The Boy From District Three
by GoddessOfOlympia
Summary: Oneshot on District 3's tribute in the 74th Hunger Games. "I could hear them coming before I saw them. The big blonde guy that walked at the front was obviously the leader. They were all laughing, talking about killing some bitch from district twelve. They could afford to be loud. They hunted methodically as a pack and killed anyone who crossed their path. They were the careers."


I could hear them coming before I saw them. The big blonde guy that walked at the front was obviously the leader. They were all laughing and joking, talking about killing some bitch from district twelve. They could afford to be loud. They hunted methodically as a pack and killed anyone who crossed their path and I was about to cross theirs. They were the careers.

"Cato! There's tracks that lead over here," a girlish voice said. I shifted slightly to see that the speaker was the dark haired girl from Two. On the first day, when we were all released into the arena, I'd watched her kill Marina without a second thought. I could do nothing to help my female counterpart so I ran. District 3 was at as much of a disadvantage as the non-Career districts were.

"We'll follow them," a reply came finally. It was the blonde guy, Cato I assumed. It wasn't long before I was in clear view.

"Cato!" the girl called again, excited. "I think we got one." Her face curved into a smirk as she reached and pulled a knife out of her belt. My voice was shaking as I spoke.

"I wouldn't make another movement if I were you." As expected, her response was to laugh, before completely pulling the knife out. She spun it expertly in her hand.

Some people say that when you die, your life flashes before your eyes. All of the events that had happened in the brief 16 years of my existence crossed my mind the moment the girl produced the knife. My childhood was nothing exciting. I grew up surrounded by technology. I felt safe among it. I had a mother and a father and a baby sister. Life wasn't the easiest; my father worked as an inventor for the capital, expanding on a number of electronic appliances. My mother was allowed to stay home and look after Cari. And then at the reaping I was pulled from my relatively sheltered existence. I think my parents said goodbye to me there. They knew I wouldn't make it home. I was taken to the Capitol. It was brilliant. It reminded me of the clockwork pieces I'd seen from before the Dark Days. Everything fitted together exactly like that. My interview was nothing of note. Caesar Flickerman babbled on about how I must be enjoying this. I rolled my eyes in reply. The Capitol was too similar in some ways to my home district but everything was on a bigger scale. In 3, the most common right was large radio towers, stretching to what seemed like the heavens. Wires hung between there towers, creating an electronic forest. Sky rises seemed to almost touch the clouds. I barely heard the buzzer sound, signifying the end of my interview.

"I give you Rift Wellwood of District Three everyone," Caesar called, the audience cheering for god knows what reason.

And I here I was in a real forest. There was nothing that could be used here and nothing I could do. I was about to die.

"And just why shouldn't I move?" the girl asked. Before I could reply, Cato and another boy appeared behind her.

"Why isn't he dead Clove?" Cato asked, his voice a low and annoyed growl.

"He told me not to move. I was curious as to why," Clove told him, laughing again as she tossed her hair back.

"Who is he?" the other boy asked.

"I don't care," Cato replied. "Just dispose of him. He can't be any use to us."

"Actually, I can." I don't know where the words came from but I registered that my voice was no longer shaking. Surprise appeared visibly on Cato's face. Clearly he wasn't used to people challenging him. I barely knew where this was coming from but I didn't want to die just yet.

"I'm Three's tribute. My partner's dead. I know about your supplies," I said very fast. Maybe if I could explain my insane idea quickly enough, they wouldn't kill me. However, mentioning their supplies was the wrong thing to do. Cato stiffened, his eyebrows raised almost imperceptibly. Food was a coveted resource in the games, even more than weapons. After all, how could you kill someone if you were dying of starvation?

I took a deep breath before continuing to speak. The fact that I was still able to speak, I took as a good thing.

"Look, your supplies are just out in the open. Anyone could take them." I didn't mention how I'd actually seen the red-headed girl from Five take them on three separate occasions. She was just like me, trying to survive. "But the thing is, the bombs from before we begin are still out there, underneath the metal plates. If you let me live, I could rewire them to surround your supplies. Anyone who tried to take them after that would be blown up." I had planned on using the explosives to my own advantage but now I was using them to survive. An odd expression crossed Cato's face, not his usual menacing one. He was thinking.

"How do we know you're telling the truth?" Clove asked, her eyes narrowed in suspicion.

"I'll show you." I stood and moved from where I was crouching. I moved slowly with my hands in front of me, to show that I was no threat. They obviously didn't think I was because the only move Cato made was to shift his stance slightly. When I was standing just in front of them, I reached down and picked up a stick.

"This is why I told you not to move," I told Clove before poking the stick into the ground. After a moment I hit the point I was looking for. The ground surrounding the area where I'd been crouched just exploded. Clove jumped back, her knife held close to her body and her teeth bared. Even Cato stiffened a little more.

"That's how you know I'm telling the truth," I said, turning back to face them and hoping like hell that it was enough to let me live. "How long would it take you to do this to the entire area?" Cato asked. I ran some quick calculations in my head. Maths was another one of my strong points - and another thing that was absolutely no use to me here.

"About three hours if I'm provided with man power," I said seriously. Cato nodded before turning to his two followers.

"Marvel, you are going to keep a watch on the perimeter. Clove," he began before hesitating. "You're going to keep hunting the bitch down." Clove grinned, clearly happy to be trusted with such a large task. I knew that they were referring to Katniss Everdeen from Twelve. She was the dangerous one. That much was clear after she'd scored an eleven in our training.

"What about Lover Boy?" she asked, her knife once again twirling. I'd seen that there had been another boy and girl with the careers a while ago. One of them, the girl, clearly belonged to them. I remembered her interview. She'd slunk onto the stage wearing a semi-transparent dress. I think her name was Glimmer and she'd been introduced as being from District One. She just oozed glamour, decadence and luxury that her district possessed. She was the most beautiful girl I had ever seen and I'd felt a pang of sadness when her face had been projected on the night sky. One of the only beautiful things in this arena was gone. The other kid, the boy, was from Twelve. He didn't long with the careers and I guess he'd returned to be with Katniss.

"He's not a concern." The dismissal in Cato's tone was clear and Marvel and Clove both moved away. He looked back at me, surveying me once again.

"What's your name?" he asked. His eyes were blue and cold. He reminded me of pictures I'd seen of life before the Dark Days. A group of people called the Nazis had also tried to take over the world. They all had blonde hair and blue eyes. Cato was following in their footsteps, trying to claim the arena as his own. The world would follow later.

"My name's Rift," I mumbled. He nodded slowly before cracking his knuckles.

"Where do we begin... Rift?" For once, there was more emotion that menace in his voice. He actually sounded slightly uncomfortable. My guess was he liked using names of people he would later kill as much as he liked taking orders from me. I quickly told him that he needed to dig up the plates. I showed him how to angle the ax he was using in lieu of a spade, so he wouldn't hit the explosives. He did so, his large muscles meaning that the explosives were uncovered fast. I took it and carried it over to smaller wholes I'd dug. Then I stripped metal off one of the many weapons that had been discarded around the cornucopia. They formed a long, slim wire and I managed to link every hole together. Together, Cato and I filled them in. The ground was lumpy but no one would know why.

"From now on, you stick with us," Cato told me. Clearly he was impressed but he wasn't going to voice that. I was only glad I was still alive.

Later that night, Clove returned. She reported that she'd been unable to find Katniss but she had killed the girl from Eight. True to her word, a small blonde girl's face was projected into the sky. I felt guilty for teaming up with the Careers, as if I was betraying some sort of other tribute code. But I never claimed to be a hero. I just wanted to stay alive, and if I had to win to do this, I would try and do that.

With a shock, I suddenly realised I had no use to them anymore. My usefulness was gone.I spent that night huddled into myself, pretending to be asleep. There was no movement from any of them. I was glad they didn't see me as a threat. The next three days passed without event in the arena. Simple things reminded me of my life back home. A spider's delicately spun web reminded me of how my father had made an intricate wire contraption. It expanded when you threw it up and folded neatly into itself when you caught it. I had loved that toy.

On my fourth day of being a Career, my eighth in the arena, Cato decided we needed to expand our area.

"Marvel, you cover the west. Clove, you stay with Rift and I'm going north," he told us. We each took a small amount of supplies before leaving the area. I wasn't happy about being with Clove. She seemed more unstable than Cato, especially since our first encounter. We'd gotten about five kilometres from the supplies when a large explosion rocked the forest. I knew it could only be the bombs I'd rigged going off. Clove immediately turned and we ran through the forest. Athletics had never been my strong point. When we arrived in the clearing I gasped. Something I hadn't realised would happen had completely disrupted everything. Instead of blowing a circle around the supplies the explosives had completely destroyed all of them. Every single item of food was gone. Cato came charging back into the area, his eyes blazing with fury as he saw what would happen. And I knew where his fury was going.

"You planned this," he said, slowly advancing on me. He knew I wouldn't try and run because I wouldn't get anywhere. Clove watched him approach, a smirk firmly in place on her face.

"No, I didn't—" I cut myself off. It was no use protesting. I'd just severely disabled any chance Cato had of winning the games, all while trying to save my own skin. I wasn't scared though. I'd always known I was going to die. I think a part of me just wanted to play a game to see how long I'd last.

Some say that when you're dying, your life flashes behind your eyes. This is a lie. I think it might be true with events such as drowning but having your neck snapped is a quick a way to go as any. Cato's large hands clamped around my neck, making my breath quicken for a heartbeat. In the next second, I had no breath or heartbeat. I was gone from the clearing, gone from the arena, gone from this world.


End file.
